


i am the fifth dimension

by librarby



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Nonbinary Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, The Archives Are Transgender, Trans Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Trans Martin Blackwood, Trans Sasha James, Trans Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), nonbinary author, trans author
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26500003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/librarby/pseuds/librarby
Summary: It takes Jon a week to place the nonbinary label gently onto himself, then another two weeks to work up the courage to talk to his colleagues.[title from eighth wonder by lemon demon]
Relationships: Martin Blackwood & Sasha James & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist & Tim Stoker
Comments: 47
Kudos: 220





	i am the fifth dimension

Jonathan Sims has always been a man. 

Or at least, Jon’s never been upset at being called a man.

Gender has never been something he’s given much thought to. It’s simply a label he was given the day he was born, one that felt like a shirt with an itchy tag—mostly comfortable, but with a small, nagging suspicion that something might not be right. 

It wasn’t until he was promoted to Head Archivist that the itch began to grow.

It started small, like seeing the sparkly blue of Martin’s painted fingernails or watching Sasha stick her hands into the pockets of her skirt or the look on Tim’s face when he announced that his license now read ‘Timothy Stoker’. 

After a few conversations in the stacks and in the break room, Jon ended up on several late night internet searches, reading about identities and pronouns and words and theories.

It takes him a week to place the nonbinary label gently onto himself, then another two weeks to work up the courage to talk to his colleagues. 

Jon calls them all into his office, fidgeting with a pen underneath his desk. Martin sits in the chair across from him, the one usually reserved for statement givers, while Tim stands behind him leaning against the back of the chair. Sasha clears a spot and hops up to sit on his desk.

“Are we all getting fired?” Tim says before he can even say anything. From her position on the desk, Sasha tries to kick him, but he dodges with a laugh. 

“No, you aren’t getting fired.” Jon says. Martin’s shoulders drop. “I, er, I wanted to tell you all something.” 

His assistants are quiet, staring at him, and he feels so seen, so _looked at_ that he has to take in a deep breath before he can even talk. 

“I wanted to inform you that, well, I suppose no one in the Archives can be considered cisgender.” 

Tim laughs. “Welcome to the club, boss.” Jon shoots him a glare.

To his left, Sasha places her hand next to his arm on the desk (he knows it’s the same as how she would take Martin’s hand or loop her arm with Tim’s). “Thanks for telling us. Do you have a new name or pronouns or anything?”

Jon clicks the pen a few times. He’s thought about this, about how he could pick another name, build something new from this discovery. Still, it doesn’t feel right, to be someone other than _Jon_. 

He shakes his head. “No, I believe I’m still comfortable with my name. As far as pronouns, I suppose I’m indifferent.”

“Are there any pronouns you don’t want us to use?” Martin asks.

Jon blinks. “What?”

Tim drums his fingers along the back of the chair. “We don’t want to call you anything you aren’t comfortable with, and there’s practically infinite pronouns out there.” 

“Maybe we can start with a small list and work up from there?” Sasha chimes in. 

Jon nods. Lists. He can do a list.

Sasha smiles at him. It fills him with calm. He’s not in trouble, not being judged, just talking with his coworkers.

With his friends. 

He places the pen back on his desk. 

“How about ‘he’?” Sasha asks. She’s produced a blank sheet of paper from somewhere and written JON in block letters on the left side of the page. 

That one’s easy. Jon’s been ‘he’ his whole damn life. “Yes, that’s fine.” 

Sasha writes down ‘he/him’ in careful letters underneath his name. “How about ‘she’?” 

Admittedly, this is a little trickier. Still, he remembers having long hair back during uni and the small, strange jolt of happiness that would run through him when he would hear someone behind him at Tesco whisper ‘She’s tall, would you ask her to get that down from the shelf for us?’. 

And the odd disappointment he’d feel when he’d turn and receive rushed apologies. 

“‘She’ is also fine, I believe.” He says. 

She says.

‘She/her’ gets added to the list.

Martin speaks up next, a little rushed. “‘They’? How do you feel about ‘they’?” 

“‘They’.” Jon repeats.

“Like ‘they went to the store’–” 

“Yes, Martin, I’m aware of how it’s used.” Martin deflates a little and Jon sighs in spite of himself. “I’m sorry, I just...I have no previous experience with being referred to that way to really call on. I’m not sure.” 

“We can just try it out.” Tim says. “You can get rid of it if you don’t like it.” 

Sasha nods. “The list isn’t permanent. It’s just a start.” 

Martin opens his mouth to say something but Jon interrupts (mostly on accident). “Alright. I think I'll try it.”

‘They/them’ is added to the list. 

“In that case, add ‘xe’, if you would.” Jon says (He remembers seeing it on one of the websites and it caught his eye immediately). “And I believe that’s a good start for me.” 

Sasha neatly prints ‘xe/xem’, then, next to Jon’s name, Sasha writes her own name. Underneath, she adds ‘she/her’ and ‘they/them’, then adds TIM and MARTIN and hands the paper to Tim. 

Tim writes quickly and gives it to Martin, who takes significantly longer. 

“Are you finished?” Sasha asks, after he just stares at the paper blankly for much longer than needed. 

Martin jolts a little, but mumbles “Um, yeah, sorry. Yes.” before scribbling something onto the paper and shoving it into Sasha’s hands. 

She looks down at the paper and smiles. “Okay. So for Jon, we have he, she, they, and xe.” She glances up at Jon, who gives her a nod of confirmation. 

“I’m she or they. Tim is just he/him. And Martin is he or they.” 

“I’m, um, I’m trying it out too, I think.” Martin says, rubbing his hands together. Tim puts a hand on his shoulder and he stops. 

Sasha grins. “Jon? Permission to post this on the Archives bulletin board that you _insist_ should only be used for work related purposes even though it’s the only place to put anything in this entire basement?” 

Jon frowns at her, but nods. “Fine.” 

“What?” Tim throws his hands up in the air. “I swear to god, boss, you let Sasha do literally anything.”

“I do not–” 

“You kind of do, though.” Martin says. 

Sasha laughs from where she’s affixing the paper to the board. “You can’t blame Jon that I’m the favorite.”

“I do not have favorites.” Jon says. 

“Bullshit. Martin, are you hearing this?” 

(The next day, when Jon comes into work, there’s a little transgender flag sitting on his desk. Ignoring the fact that xe had arrived first, she arranges it so it’s displayed off to the side of the pencil cup on their desk.)

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments trans my gender!
> 
> find me on tumblr @ jonbinary :-)


End file.
